"#CustDev Office Hours on @Namesake -- let's trade #CustDev hacks & tricks."

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Patrick Vlaskovits started a conversation 11 months ago

#CustDev Office Hours on @Namesake -- let's trade #CustDev hacks & tricks.

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Looking forward to seeing the knowledge dropped here
Scott Hurff • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Scott • +1
@Scott Hurff hahah - we'll see
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Scott Hurff how are things at Namesake HQ?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Hey, @Patrick Vlaskovits . Good to see you. How are things?
Scott Magoon • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Scott • +1
@Scott Magoon Good -- what's shakin;?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Good! Cranking away
Scott Hurff • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Scott • +1
Actually, I would love to see if anyone has any especially tricky CustDev hacks that I don't know about
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
I am super excited for this @Patrick Vlaskovits ... I just tweeted it out to my followers.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Brian Norgard thanks ----
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
One way to think about CustDev hacks or at least the way I think about 'em is how to remove the "future hypothetical" from a situation such that you can test the outcome while building as little as possible
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
This is the classic from 1975: http://slideshar...opment/9
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits What's the biggest mistake young entrepreneurs make doing customer development?
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Brian Norgard Not doing it. ;)
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Jó napot Patrick!
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits can you set some context as to what custdev "hacks" are?
Scott Magoon • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Scott • +1
@Vasily Myazin Szia Vasily!
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Vasily Myazin Welcome to Namesake Office Hours!
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Scott Magoon sure --- ways to get credible information about your customers without asking them
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Brian Norgard Cheers :)
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits How do you get information without asking explicitly?
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits what are some of the basics? The "must do's"?
Scott Magoon • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Scott • +1
@Brian Norgard for example, @Dan Martell had a great hack he was using on Flowtown for a while
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
he was offering "free phone support" to anyone who give their phone number when they signed u
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits That's a great idea. Super smart.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
this was great, b/c he could then call them up and plumb them for feedback
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits What is the biggest mistake that comes to mind, new startups make?
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
over the phone
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Vasily Myazin perhaps focusing on solution (the fun part) and not enough on problem (the really hard part to figure out)
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Hey Patrick! Thanks for giving us the chance to learn some of your CustDev insights :)
Nick Frost • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Nick • +1
@Nick Frost hey man -- good to see you
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits How do you see the problem side being different in consumer software vs. B2B/SaaS?
Andrew Skotzko • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Andrew • +1
@Andrew Skotzko that is a great question -- @Brant Cooper and I get this all the time
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Andrew Skotzko which is harder to CustDev? B2C or B2B? Short answer: whatever YOU are doing is the hardest.
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
CustDev is really, really, really hard
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
I struggle with it all the time
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
how do I am really actually understanding the pain?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits In the Lean movement they say "If it doesn't feel difficult, you are probably not doing it right". Is it true even for "serial" entrepreneurs and startup activists?
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits should custdev like this always be human-powered, as opposed to an algorithmic data collection process such as Google might use?
Scott Magoon • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Scott • +1
@Vasily Myazin great question ---- probably right.
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits I think it's even harder to know if you're making something that people want—i.e. a product that isn't focused on providing pain, but rather providing pleasure. Instagram, etc. What is the latest knowledge about these types of companies? I think they're the least understood.
Andrew Skotzko • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Andrew • +1
@Scott Magoon at early stages, definitely qualitative -- as one gets closer to undertstanding the problem, one can shift to more quant methods --- that said, talking to people is always good
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits I've always thought the hardest part of customer development is getting into the head of apathetic customers. By definition theses customers don't give a shit about you (by in large this is a huge HUGE silent majority). What hacks can we use to understand how to interact with these important base of customers?
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
So fresh and so lean, lean...
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
@Andrew Skotzko fo' sure they are the least understood --- how to custdev stuff that needs to be seen/felt/touched -- is hard.
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Brian Norgard Apathy is the true competition for most startups. Not other companies.
Andrew Skotzko • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Andrew • +1
@Brian Norgard getting into people's heads who are apathetic.....and presumably, have a problem you can solve --- I suppos
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
the best way is to frame it around their immediate pain, even if that is NOT the pain you are solving, and then pull them into your sphere. Make sense?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Bridge the pain
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
@Vasily Myazin great turn of phrase
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Great concept.
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
I think Xobni did stuff like that
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
How did Xobni do it exactly?
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
where first it was HEY LOOK OVER HERE -- EMAIL ANALYTICS and then BTW EMAIL IS A DE FACTO SOCIAL NETWORK AND IS REALLY IMPORTANT BUT YOU DIDNT KNOW THAT
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
You'd have to ask @Sean Ellis about that though
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Boom. Indeed. Email = flow.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
I see how they twisted it. Good thinking there.
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
@Vasily Myazin I don't know if that was intentional or not -- but that is how I interpreteted what they dud
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
did
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Vasily Myazin Hook them on what they think is the right answer, then bridge them to the *real* right answer (assuming you're right of course...)
Andrew Skotzko • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Andrew • +1
@Andrew Skotzko yes
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
One of the coolest CustDev hacks
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
What if your ambition is to create a product that solves multiple problems at once. Should you fight the temptation and narrow it down to just one (or two)?
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
@Vasily Myazin I would argue yes. Focus is key.
Andrew Skotzko • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Andrew • +1
(sorry @Patrick Vlaskovits that was directed to you.)
Andrew Skotzko • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Andrew • +1
@Vasily Myazin up to you -- but another moving part makes things a few orders of magnitidue harder IMO
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Will the "big picture" unfold via continuous iterations?
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
@Vasily Myazin hopefully -- no guarantee though :)
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits True that, examples of feature-rich products that annoy people abundant :)
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
yep
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
One cool Cust Dev hack I have seen is using Greasemonkey scripts in FF browsers for UX testing.
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
I think you have to prove to customers that you can do one thing really well before convincing them its worth their time to use your brand for a broader set of functions.
Isaac Fain • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Isaac • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits how were they used?
Andrew Skotzko • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Andrew • +1
More on the Greasemonkey hack
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
Is there an article anywhere?
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
where you write a greasemonkey script that alters a site's rendering of its slow e.g. facebook or namesake or twitter
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
and then have users come to your laptop to login in
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
and use facebook/namesake/twitter/your site
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
and see how they react when you put fake stuff in their stream ------> but it looks legit
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
make sense?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Basically, it's like a prototyping hack
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Yeah.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
It was a genius CustDev hack (I didn't come up with it) -- the guys that did it
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Doctor the actual site to lower the cost of development
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
saved $2m testing stuff like Blippy (sharing purchases in the stream)
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
and saw that people hated it
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
and reacted violently almost
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
People meaning who?
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Interesting practical comparison.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Brian Norgard yep -- instead of building a blippy clone, they greasemonkeyed it inside a users FB stream
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
and got high fidelity feedback without telling the person it was a test ----> NO OBSERVER EFFECT
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
genius
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits you've been here on Namesake since the early days, what advice would you give them?
Scott Magoon • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Scott • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits You mentioned moving from qualitative to quantitative. When do you do that in the process?
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits How important is it for the whole team to be physically together to achieve positive customer dev results quickly?
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
@Scott Magoon I would say they should clone their team so that they have 2x as many badasses
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
hi @Brian Norgard
Steven Kane • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Steven • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Working on it.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Vasily Myazin probably better, but getting out of the building is good no matter what
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
as @steveblank always says "Getting out of the Building" is 90% of it
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Steven Kane << the famous man, founder of 1.0 hit Gamesville.com
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Steven Kane Hello! Welcome.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
There is a blurry continuum of prototyping/CustDev/sales that is very interestig
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Why do so many popular products continue having glaring usability holes and their creators don't do anything about them for years? (instead they add stuff that isn't essential)
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
I think that 3d printing is going to change hardware startups forever, for the better
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Vasily Myazin I suppose it depends on the creators resources, needs and understanding of their market
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Why?
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Quicker feedback cycles?
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Brian Norgard yep
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
multiple orders of magnitude fast
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
It's seems like a lot of money is being left on the table this way.
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
e
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Vasily Myazin Oh, yeah.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Vasily Myazin could be -- maybe opp for you to build better product?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Have you heard anything about GE's implementation of lean / custdev for their new business unit? How are they doing?
Andrew Skotzko • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Andrew • +1
The meta-rules around CustDev & LeanStartups have huge power and will change the world for the better
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
for example, they can be applied in places like social entrepreneurship
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits I guess if you keep your eye on the faulty popular products long enough to observe their deficiencies and slow-moving tendencies, it might just be the information you need to build a strong competing product
Vasily Myazin • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Vasily • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits How does customer development apply to people building game based products? Are the rules different?
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
http://300house.com
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
whoop
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
I wanted to highlight http://300house.com b/c their was an interesting response to that in NYT
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
namely, have the academics behind http://300house.com actually checked their assumptions about the people who they think will buy http://300house.com?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
response was here: http://nytimes.c...ava.html
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits I love this idea.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Brian Norgard read the response in NYT
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
my point is that you can and should custdev innovation in social entreprenerusip
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits It's really hard for entrepreneurs to check their assumptions b/c it involves also leaving one's ego at the door.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
instead of "Hey poor people -- we are smarter than you, take this stuff we made and use it"
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Brian Norgard agreed --- but I have had too many failures now, which helps keep my ego in check.
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
:)
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits haha second that point
Bobby Matson • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Bobby • +1
@Bobby Matson hey there -- what are you working on?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Me too. It's all good. It's *all* about the the wins.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Bobby Matson Tell us about where your project is challenging...
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Bobby Matson please -- anything I can do to brainstorm something?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
By the way, if you haven't seen it yet you should check out @Patrick Vlaskovits 's and @Brant Cooper 's book, "The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development" here >> http://skotz.co/oYKz27
Andrew Skotzko • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Andrew • +1
<3 me some custdev
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
wound up the first startup (SkyMiles for Entertainment) and have been trying to test concepts via small Adwords since @Brian Norgard @Patrick Vlaskovits
Bobby Matson • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Bobby • +1
@Andrew Skotzko thanks --- also, if you have read it, please let me know what you hate about it -- not joking btw
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Thomas Knoll hey dude
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
would you rec unbounce for those landing pages?
Bobby Matson • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Bobby • +1
@Thomas Knoll Congrats on Clipppr, btw!
Nick Frost • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Nick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits good to see you buddy. thank you for sharing yer sekrits
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Your book was incredible! Thank you!!!
Jaxi West • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Jaxi • +1
@Bobby Matson I like unbounce a lot -- there are other landing page people but I think @rickperrault and @Oli Gardner are awesome
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Nick Frost Thank you... that was a casestudy in custdev if I do say so myself =)
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Jaxi West thank you -- glad you liked it. What part resonated with you personally?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Thomas Knoll Can you elaborate how you conducted your custdev during your 54 hours at StartupWeekend for ClippPR?
Nick Frost • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Nick • +1
@Nick Frost We hit all the main points in that short of time
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
had a real problem
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits I am fascinated by how customer development if creeping into so many different industries. Not just a startup tool anymore.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
wrote down what we *thought* the solution was, and how we thought other people had the same problem
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Are you seeing this trend as well?
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
I stared calling up everyone I know who might have the same problem
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Brian Norgard me too ---- @Brant Cooper and I are revising the book and we will talk about that
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
asked how they are solving it now
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits also noticing a challenge in getting user response from Adwords campaigns, some of the targets live on FB and are searching for products differently
Bobby Matson • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Bobby • +1
made a survey to spread out to everyone based on initial consistent answers
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Brian Norgard for example, people are doing MVPs for restaurants by using food trucks and then once the concept is solid, doing a restaurant
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
started collecting a list of people interested in solving the problem through a launchrock page
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Follow me for a moment... Everyone says, "You must solve a problem."

I disagree other than one simple twist.

The problem 50% of time is to cure boredom. Does reality TV solve a problem? Do you follow my logic @Patrick Vlaskovits and how it applies to your movement?
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Bobby Matson yep -- fo' sure --
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Just ordered
Faisal Yaqub • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Faisal • +1
asked people to buy before we had it built
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Faisal Yaqub << real-time commerce!
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Thomas Knoll I love this concept. Great work.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
Hey @Patrick Pettay vlaskovits - thx for the insights!
Roman Reyhani • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Roman • +1
@Nick Frost sorry, so spread out
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Brian Norgard I think you and I are closer to this than it might seem -- problem/pain/pleasure are different words for the same concept ---- or maybe you disagree?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Faisal Yaqub thanks!
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Just ordered your book. This was exactly what was looking for right now.
Faisal Yaqub • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Faisal • +1
@Faisal Yaqub awesome --- my email address is in the book -- reach out and let me know what you thought
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Oops that was meant for you PV
Roman Reyhani • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Roman • +1
@Roman Reyhani hey -- havent seen you for a while -- what's new?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Haha yes realtime via the iPhone app
Faisal Yaqub • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Faisal • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits @Brian Norgard Unfortunately bordom *is* a real pain that people want a solution to
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Maybe it's just semantics at play. People have a hard time articulating boredom but I sure know it when I see it (ie Instagram on the weekends).
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Thomas Knoll did you put the prospect through the whole checkout process w Google checkout?
Bobby Matson • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Bobby • +1
@Thomas Knoll Thanks! Those sound like pretty effective ways to gain feedback on your hypothesis. It's a good mix of tactics you used. Would like to catch up more in SF about ClippPR, if you're down.
Nick Frost • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Nick • +1
@Bobby Matson no, paypal
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Thomas Knoll Indeed, but they might not internalize it on the surface.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Brian Norgard I actually dont think that boredom is the problem that instagram is solving
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Nick Frost you in SF?
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Brian Norgard I think that it is social signaling
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Roman Reyhani Hey! I agree with @Patrick Vlaskovits , it's been a whiile since we've had the pleasure of your insights!
Nick Frost • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Nick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits What problem do they solve?
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
Patrick, any hacks or ideas for customer development in mobile apps? Specifically in apps without user accounts?
Faisal Yaqub • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Faisal • +1
@Faisal Yaqub hhhhmmmmmmmm
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Faisal Yaqub give me some more contect
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
context
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits "social signaling" feels more like w/ but I see your point my friend.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
Did you guys get @Patrick Vlaskovits talking about paleo yet?
Chris Dumler • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Chris • +1
@Thomas Knoll Will be in SF as soon as I find a place. Will let you know.
Nick Frost • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Nick • +1
@Brian Norgard BTW you are right about people not verbalzing pain/pleasure/problem --- that is why you cannot simply ask for a lot of things -- you have to triangulate via hacks to discern their true feelings WHICH THEY MIGHT NOT EVEN KNOW THEY HAVE
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Chris Dumler hahahah
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Instagram to me = hunter/gather foraging + expression via filters & photo sharing (social graph amplification)
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits I am so with you on your last comment.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
"Don't you hate it when you don't know where you might hang out with people a week from now?" "Um, no.... but NOW I DO!?!?!" brought to you by plancast
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits thoughts on an MVP for an experiential product? ex. Chatroulette for dating, connecting you to singles based on your social graph/location
Bobby Matson • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Bobby • +1
Well so far I'm collectting emails from a send feedback option from the app, but that is the extent of any cust dev.
Faisal Yaqub • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Faisal • +1
@PV have a gig working inhouse legal at CityGrid media. Interesting local ad model. Have the lean events on the radar though :)
Roman Reyhani • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Roman • +1
@Bobby Matson That's a rad idea BTW.
Brian Norgard • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Brian • +1
@Brian Norgard a problem im trying to solve
Bobby Matson • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Bobby • +1
@Bobby Matson I would look at the existing apps that do that
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Bobby Matson so, what is the problem?
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Brian Norgard online dating sucks. I'm the target, concept has moved from there
Bobby Matson • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Bobby • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits any suggestions/
Bobby Matson • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Bobby • +1
I am married with a kid and ergo, very boring --- so not in your target demo
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Faisal Yaqub Get out of the building. Ask your target customers what they like/ don't like/ how you can help solve the problem.
Nick Frost • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Nick • +1
@Faisal Yaqub here is an idea for you --- mock it up as image on your iphone and on someone else's and then go to a bar
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
pretend to use it
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits please talk about surveying your customers - do you incentivize customers or does that taint the survey? do you ever resurvey customers after months of improving the product?
Merrick Lozano • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Merrick • +1
and show strangers about you are connecting with people based on location
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Merrick Lozano Good question.
Nick Frost • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Nick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits good call w/ mobile cust dev
Bobby Matson • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Bobby • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Hey Patrick, just saying hi.
Steve De Long • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Steve • +1
@Bobby Matson I think my comment was at you
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits for going to the bar?
Bobby Matson • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Bobby • +1
@Merrick Lozano I like to incentivze people to fill out survey -- yes, data is tainted but so what --- tainted data is better than clean no data
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Merrick Lozano you said 'taint'
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Bobby Matson yeah --- whoever asked about the mobile dating app
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits gotchya. initial thought was web-based
Bobby Matson • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Bobby • +1
@Steve De Long hey there -- how are t-shirt sales?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Bobby Matson there was some crossfire convo in here
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Slow - I'll ping you later with an update.
Steve De Long • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Steve • +1
@Bobby Matson so dont know at whom I was firing questionable custdev advice ;)
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits love the idea of image mockup use for mobile tho
Bobby Matson • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Bobby • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits thanks, 2nd question is do you recommend surveying customers again?
Merrick Lozano • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Merrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits very interesting, I might have to look into doing that, thanks.
Faisal Yaqub • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Faisal • +1
@Merrick Lozano sure -- assuming you have changed something or have something new to ask them ---
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Merrick Lozano btw I like using the conditional logic built into Wufoo for segmentation
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits thanks, we are about to survey customers formally for the 1st time after 8 years :) Was thinking of using survey.io, questions will check out Wufoo.
Merrick Lozano • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Merrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Is it "safe" or correct to add users who submitted feedback (via email from your app) to a mailing list? The mailing list would just send emails on product updates, etc. Or should you only add users who specifically sign up for the mailing list via the website?
Faisal Yaqub • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Faisal • +1
@Merrick Lozano survey.io is great --
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
check out http://custdev.w...feedback
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
depending on which radio button you tick --- you get slightly different questions
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Everyone, please take a second and endorse @Patrick Vlaskovits . This man knows his stuff!
Andrew Skotzko • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Andrew • +1
@Faisal Yaqub there are no rules -- I would weigh the risk and costs of adding folks who might not want to be added
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Awesome thanks for the advice and wufoo example, very helpful.
Merrick Lozano • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Merrick • +1
@Merrick Lozano did you try different radio buttons?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Merrick Lozano the reason I did that is because my users have different POVs based on their experiences with the product, ergo different questions are applicable
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Thanks, I think I'll go ahead and add them and then remove them if they request to be removed.
Faisal Yaqub • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Faisal • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits yeah that makes sense, I did see the segments in action
Merrick Lozano • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Merrick • +1
segmentation is hugely powerful tool in all parts of startup marketing, custdev, feedback and most people dont segment nearly enough
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Trying to be all things to everyone = Kiss of Death IMO
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Faisal Yaqub well, mailing list automation software like mailchimp allows users to remove themselves, if you get too many spam complaints, you can get suspended etc etc
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
"But, everyone in the world is a potential customer for my product."
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Thomas Knoll hahahahahahahahahahhaha
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
My favorite custdev hack, is to love people
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Thomas Knoll agreed --- empathy for other humans is hugely powerful in startups
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Right, I totally forgot about that. I just started using MailChimp and am loving it. I just need to optimize the way I load contacts into their database and I'll be golden.
Faisal Yaqub • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Faisal • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Was thinking of segmenting old recurring customers and new customers to see what brings people in today versus what brings people back.
Merrick Lozano • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Merrick • +1
@Merrick Lozano that is prob a good start --- if you have the resources, I would suggest cohort analysis
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits I cannot wait to show you the engagement with segments we are building into @getlaunchrock
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Thomas Knoll looking forward to it -- I have another project I can use it for :
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits who are the three best people/companies at cohort-ing that you could make an intro to?
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Thomas Knoll I would just do it yourself -- but let me think about it
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Thomas Knoll have you seen the, I think, Evernote case study?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits We're definitely doing it ourselves, and working on adding it to the product... so looking for good people to learn from to discover new facts and painpoints
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
@Thomas Knoll they talk about how they didn't really understand their customers till they got to month 14 (or something) in their usage -- I don't know if they explicitly did cohort analysis, but de facto they did
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Thomas Knoll @Patrick Vlaskovits I definitely agree. Using human emotion as a marketing, custdev, sales tool helps. And @Thomas Knoll I am a LaunchRock groupie... am looking forward to seeing what you and Jameson have in the works.
Nick Frost • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Nick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Sorry for the inexperience, but can you define "cohort analysis". Thanks!
Nick Frost • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Nick • +1
@Nick Frost http://startuple...all.html
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Nick Frost what it means, in simple terms, is that you bucket your users by groups and when they joined your app -- you then follow then
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
and record how they use your product
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Nick Frost For me, it goes much deeper than using human emotion to achieve marketing/sales goals. I honestly believe that having empathy for your customers problems will cause you to build better experiences and products for your customers.

It's like food that has been cooked with *love* just tastes better.
Thomas Knoll • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Thomas • +1
you can then see differences between groups (i.e. cohorts)
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
over time
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
for example, if you have a 100 people join in Jan, and intro a new feature in Feb + another 100 people
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Btw, you guys should get your hands on the paperback version of @Patrick Vlaskovits and @Brant Cooper 's book, it's on amazon >> http://amazon.co...4&sr=8-1
Andrew Skotzko • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Andrew • +1
you can observe the effect on the people who started using your product without the feature and those who always saw the featrue
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Nick Frost - make sense?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
Any other Cust-Dev-y questions?
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Brilliant! Thanks a lot! I'll continue to learn more about the topic, and will keep you updated on our progress at BetaCandy.
Nick Frost • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Nick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Yeah, when can we expect the next version of your book?
Nick Frost • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Nick • +1
@Nick Frost sounds good ----- wrt bookl, stay tuned, hopefully in the Fall
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits nice explanation of cohort analysis. Next time you're in San Diego let me buy you and Brant a good meal / drinks - your book and this advice is much appreciated.
Merrick Lozano • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Merrick • +1
@Merrick Lozano hahahha -- sounds good --- BTW you should hook up with my co-author @Brant Cooper -- he is down in San Diego and runs a a great meetup group there
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
BTW if any of you are in LA -- sign up for our next LeanLA event here: http://meetup.co...p-Circle
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
we have some cool people on deck for Sept and Octobe
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits yeah @Brant Cooper is awesome Parand Darugar introduced me, been attending the Lean Startup events down here they have been very good. I also plan to attend your LA events as possible.
Merrick Lozano • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Merrick • +1
@Merrick Lozano @Nick Frost @Thomas Knoll here is Evernote's cohort thingy: http://dintz.com...ree-apps
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
I gotta jam and get on some calls -- but thanks to @Namesake for having me on
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
hope you guys found it useful
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Thanks for joining us! This was great, look forward to the next one
Andrew Skotzko • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Andrew • +1
@Andrew Skotzko Cheers!
Patrick Vlaskovits • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Patrick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Thanks Patrick!
Nick Frost • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Nick • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits thank you!
Bobby Matson • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Bobby • +1
@Patrick Vlaskovits Thank you!
Faisal Yaqub • Punt • Delete Comment • Mention Faisal • +1

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